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Data Elements

Data elements sent to NC DETECT from emergency departments, the Carolinas Poison Center data and the Pre-hospital Medical Information System data are detailed in three separate tables below.

Emergency Department Data
Data elements listed below are collected by NCHESS, although Triage Note is currently an optional element and hospitals are not required to send it.
Inclusion Criteria for NCHESS Case Reporting: Patients treated in the participant ED regardless of their disposition and patients Triaged who then leave AMA or without being seen. Also patients treated in the ED and then admitted to the hospital should be included.
Exclusion Criteria for NCHESS Case Reporting: Patients triaged away to a clinic or directly admitted to an inpatient unit.

Table 1: Emergency Department Data Elements Sent to NC DETECT
DEEDS No. Name Description/Notes (data type)
1.01 Patient ID Unique identifier generated by a one-way hash algorithm (varchar)
1.04 Date of Birth (date/time)
1.05 Sex M, F, U (varchar)
1.08 Address City, State, County, Zip only (varchar)
1.10 Visit ID Unique identifier generated by a one-way hash algorithm (varchar)
2.01 ED Facility ID Location where patient sought care (varchar)
3.01 Insurance Coverage or Other Expected Source of Payment Entity or person expected to be responsible for patient's bill for this ED visit (numeric code)
4.01 Date/Time First Documented in ED First date and time documented in patient's record for this ED visit (date/time)
4.02 Mode of Transport to ED Patient's mode of transport to ED (numeric code)
x.xx PreMIS Number If transported by EMS (varchar)
4.06 Chief Complaint Patient's reason for seeking care or attention, expressed in terms as close as possible to those used by patient of responsible informant (varchar)
4.06a Triage Note Supporting information for Chief Complaint (varchar)
4.08 First ED Acuity Assessment First ED assessment of patient's acuity by practitioner (numeric code)
4.18 First ED SBP Systolic blood pressure (number)
4.20 First ED DBP Diastolic blood pressure (number)
4.26 First ED Temperature Reading (number)
4.27 First ED Temperature Reading Route (number)
5.04 Coded Cause of Injury Encoded description of injury event that precipitated patient's ED visit; ICD-9 E code(s)
6.02 ED Procedure (repeats) ICD9 codes and CPT codes for procedures
8.02 ED Disposition Patient's anticipated location or status following ED visit (numeric code)
8.23 ED Disposition Diagnosis Description (repeats) Practitioner's description of condition or problem for which services were provided during patient's ED visit, recorded at time of disposition (varchar)
8.24 ED Disposition Diagnosis Code(s) Code assigned to ED disposition diagnosis; ICD-9 code(s)

Carolinas Poison Center (CPC) Data Elements

CPC data are sent to NC DETECT every hour. We monitor all calls that have an associated clinical effect. All calls with documented clinical effects are binned into larger clinical effect groups which are monitored for suspicious patterns.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers publishes an Annual Report for the National Poisoning and Exposure Database. This report is based on data received from 61 poison control centers around the country, including CPC.

Table 2: CPC Data Elements Sent to NC DETECT
Data Element Data Type Length Description
Call Type Num 8 Call type listed as exposure or information
Call Type Category Num 8 Subcategories for information call types
Caller City Char 100 City where call was made
Caller County Char 100 County where call was made
Caller Location Code Char 50 Zip code or area code/exchange of caller
Caller Site Num 8 Location of caller at initial call
Caller Site Code Num 8 Additional site information when caller site is a health care facility
Caller State Num 8 State where initial call was made
Caller Zip Char 10 Zip code where call was made
Case Number Num 8 Unique number for patient
Chronicity Num 8 Records exposure as acute or chronic
Clinical Effects     9 categories of clinical effects (cardiovascular, dermal, gastrointestinal, hematologic/hepatic, neurological, ocular, renal/genitourinary, respiratory, and miscellaneous). Each clinical effect is recorded as no effect, related, not related, or unknown if related
Duration of Effect Num 8 Duration of clinical effects
Exposure Duration Num 8 Duration of chronic exposures
Exposure Reason Num 8 Type of exposure if call type was an exposure call
Exposure Site Num 8 Location of the patient when the exposure occurred
Final Health Care Facility Num 8 Type of health care facility for patients transferred from the initial HCF to a second HCF
Follow up Number Num 8 Number of follow-up contacts for each patient
Initial Health Care Facility Num 8 Type of health care facility patient is in or referred to
Level of Health Care Facility Care Num 8 Highest level of care received by the patient
Management Site Num 8 Where the patient was managed
Medical Outcome Num 8 Final outcome of patient after final follow-up
Number of Substances Num 8 Total number of substances involved
Patient Age Num 8 patient's estimated age
Patient Age Unit Num 8 Code an age unit (months, days, years), an age range, or an unknown age category
Patient AnimalType Num 8 Animal type if patient is non-human
Patient Gender Num 8 Patient gender
Patient Pregnancy Duration Char 50 Number of weeks pregnant
Patient Species Num 8 Human or animal patient
Patient State Num 8 Patient’s state
Patient Weight Num 8 Patient weight (pounds or kilograms)
Related Case Number Char 50 Case number of primary case/call related to patient
Route Aspiration Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through aspiration
Route Bite Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through bite
Route Dermal Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through dermal route
Route Ingestion Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through ingestion
Route Inhalation Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through inhalation
Route Ocular Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through ocular route
Route Other Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through another route
Route Otic Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through otic route
Route Parenteral Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through parenteral route
Route Rectal Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through rectal route
Route Unknown Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through unknown route
Route Vaginal Num 8 Yes/No for exposure through vaginal route
Scenarios     7 categories of possible exposure scenarios (dosing/therapeutic error, vapor/fume problems, child-resistant closure on product, access to product, confusion about product, pesticide problems, miscellaneous). Up to four scenarios can be selected per case
Start Date Num 8 Date and time of the initial call to the poison center
Substances     Information on all substances involved in exposure
Therapies     2 categories of therapy provided (decontamination or other). Each therapy is recorded as not recommended, recommended, performed, recommended and performed, or recommended, known not performed.
Therapy None Num 8 Categories for why therapy was not provided
Year Code Num 8 Year case was first reported to the center

Pre-hospital Medical Information System (PreMIS) Data Elements

NC DETECT downloads PreMIS data once every morning. We download the previous 30 days' worth of data each morning and store only those 30 days in NC DETECT.

Table 3: PreMIS Data Elements
Data Element Description / Notes
Agency county EMS Agency county
Agency name EMS Agency name
Agency number  
Anatomic location Pick list:
Abdomen, Back, Chest, Extremity-Lower, Extremity-Upper, General/Global, Genitalia, Head, Neck
Chief complaint Free-text narrative of the patient's chief complaint, as close as possible
a quote from the patient.
Destination Name  
Destination Type  
Diastolic blood pressure  
Dispatch complaint Abdominal Pain, Allergic Reaction, Animal Bites, Assault, Back Pain, Breathing Problems, Burns, Carbon Monoxide/Inhalation, Cardiac/Respiratory Arrest, Chest Pain, Choking, Convulsions/Seizure, Diabetic Problem, DOA,
Drowning, Electrocution, Eye Problem, FALLS/Back Injury, FIRE, HAZARDOUS MATERIAL, Headache, Heart Problems, Heat/Cold Exposure, Hemorrhage/Laceration, Industrial/Machinery Accidents, Ingestion/Poisoning, LIFE LINE, OVERDOSE/POISONING, Pregnancy/Childbirth, PSYCHIATRIC/SUICIDE, SEIZURES, Sick Person, Stab/Gunshot Wound, STANDBY/SPECIAL EVENT, STROKE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, Traffic Accident, TRANSPORT, Traumatic Injuries, Unconscious, Unknown Problem/Man Down, Transfer/Interfacility/Palliative Care, MCI
External incident number; PreMISNo or PCR number  
Incident address  
Incident city  
Incident Disposition Treated, Refused, Dead. EMS calls with an incident disposition of Cancelled, No Treatment Required, or No Patient Found are not sent to NC DETECT.
Incident state  
Incident zip code  
Patient address city  
Patient address state  
Patient address zip code  
Patient age  
Patient age unit (Years, Months, Days, Hours)  
Patient birth date  
Patient gender  
Primary symptom name Pick list: Bleeding, Breathing Problems, Change in Responsiveness, Choking, Death, Device/Equipment Problem, Diarrhea, Drainage/Discharge, Fever, HEADACHE, Malaise, Mass/Lesion, Mental/Psych, MENTAL STATUS CHANGE, Nausea/Vomiting, NONE DETECTED, Pain, Palpitations, Rash/Itching, Swelling, Transport Only, Weakness, Wound
Secondary complaint Free-text narrative of the patient's secondary complaint(s), as close as
possible a quote from the patient.
Secondary symptom name See Primary Symptom Name
Systolic blood pressure  
Timestamp for last record update  
Unit notified timestamp  
Vital Signs Temperature